Chapter 484: Family, Love, Madness. It Is the Whole Thesis

Chapter 484: Chapter 484: Family, Love, Madness. It Is the Whole Thesis

Chapter 484 – Family, Love, Madness. It Is the Whole Thesis

"The Last House."

Cassius’s voice echoed like a bell in that space. The words brimmed with power and with a promise none of his sect members could understand yet, but what they had already grasped from the words alone made their chests shiver.

Mother System once again took its usual long pause, one the Last Born was getting used to.

But he would have wished for it to be faster, as his arms were truly being broken and healed over and over again.

The pain was nothing revolutionary to him, but it hurt enough to be annoying.

He let out a long breath, his eyes falling on the four names written on the Golden Tablet.

And just then, above the four names, something else began to be inscribed. They were words, Cassius guessed, but he couldn’t read them in any way possible.

Yet despite his inability to read them, once they were fully written, he was perfectly able to comprehend what these words meant, in a way that encompassed the natures of the four goddesses: The Last House, the name of his Pantheon.

DING!

Mother System finally rang out.

[Your Pantheon has been named The Last House.]

[Your Pantheon has been acknowledged in the Eye of the Divine, and now enters the list of Pantheons in the world of Sunu Gaal, the World Who Survived the End.]

The Golden Tablet in Cassius’s hands began to brighten, slowly turning into molten light that entered his body.

[For creating a Pantheon, the Eye of the Divine has the duty to allocate a Territory for you to settle your House.]

Three seconds later,

[Your Territory has been chosen: The Upstream River, located in the Divine Continent of Patience.]

By the time that notification appeared, the Golden Tablet had already been absorbed into Cassius, freeing him from the intense burden.

He fell to the ground immediately after, lying on his back, his tired eyes observing the sky above.

His whole body was aching, still trying to recover from bearing the Names of Four Goddesses.

The powers that had been pressing down on them slowly began to disappear, returning them to the real world after such an event.

The sect members breathed more calmly, all of them still taken aback by what had just happened.

The Lady of Mars and Saturn, in particular, had only just grasped how different and utterly frightening Cassius Desdemona was.

All this time, they had been expecting a young man with powerful backing and talent so extraordinary that it made every one of them feel worthless.

And that was true, in a sense.

But he was more.

Cassius could act alongside the gods, and even against them. And as though that alone wasn’t enough, he had gone ahead and created a Pantheon.

A human being.

A mortal.

How was that even possible?

And that was precisely the crux of the situation. Because what the Last Born of the Desdemona had accomplished was—!

[Impossible Achievement!] Mother System cried out, and Cassius’s eyes widened further as the cool night breeze brushed against his body.

[You have created a Pantheon, something that only gods would even think of attempting, for only they possess the strength, authority, and means necessary to accomplish such a feat.

Yet you did it, Cassius Desdemona.

You somehow acquired the means to create a Pantheon. And as though that were not already absurd enough, you went even further, possessing the audacity and confidence to believe that you, a mere mortal, could withstand the very process of its creation.

Whether that was foolishness or courage remains unknown even to us.

And then, as if determined to make a mockery of everything considered possible, you went further still, bringing those two already improbable circumstances together and successfully creating a Pantheon, even giving it a Name of its own.

A series of unlikely circumstances has led to an utterly ridiculous outcome.

Congratulations, Last Born. You dared to accomplish what no mortal had ever even thought of attempting.

And you succeeded.]

[Your Record — The Mortal Who Created a House of Gods — has been created and added to your already existing Records.]

[Your standing in the Eye of the Divine is increasing.]

[Your Cursed Villain status barely conveys the magnitude of the danger you now represent to the Hero Path. You are only one Level away from reaching the next Tier.]

’Oh my,’ Cassius thought, then winced. ’Well, how about no? I don’t need to climb any higher in the ranks of Villainy.’

But Mother System didn’t reply to that thought, and instead presented him with his rewards. Another one.

But this time, Cassius was truly surprised by its content.

[Reward: A wisp of Untouched Divinity is inside you. It will respond to you, and be used by you, at the right time.]

’Oh, Queen.’ His eyes flew wide. ’A Divinity? Inside me?’

It was unbelievable.

It was only a wisp, and he couldn’t even use it, yes, but the fact that he had a divinity inside him while only at the peak of the Second Rank was already beyond anything he had expected.

Was it because he had created, just as the System had said, a House for gods?

’This is... truly insane. And I got a new Record. I still don’t know what it does, but oh...’

The Last Born was amazed.

[We truly did it,] Tysche whispered, her voice surprised. She was speaking through the Link created by the Pantheon, which made her use less GeumGeum. [We actually created a Pantheon. We now have a Territory, and one in the Divine Continent of Patience, no less.]

[A House,] Ananke added, smiling. [That’s truly a fitting name, Cassius.]

[But we must be careful about whom we invite into our House,] Marvela added, her words, Cassius realized, addressed to one being in particular.

[Oh my,] Persephone giggled. [I thought I was seeing things when I saw your name, but it’s really you, Marvela. This makes me even more certain that this young man, Cassius Desdemona, is... this Third Golden Generation’s reincarnation of Adonis. Oh my. This is... a surprise that will not please Aphrodite at all. I am already loving this.]

[Wait?] Marvela exclaimed in surprise. [Don’t tell me Aphrodite betrayed Desdemona, her own Creator? She wants to kill her descendants?]

[Why the surprise? You would be shocked by how many of us want to kill them,] Persephone replied, then spoke to Cassius, her voice dropping into a dangerously inviting whisper. [Except me, of course.]

Cassius’s lips twitched. ’Later,’ he thought, too tired after such a long night. ’Let’s discuss it later. For now, I am too exhausted for any of this.’

Persephone wanted to speak again, but the three goddesses forcefully shut down the Link between the Pantheon and Cassius, saving him from the Underworld Goddess.

It was at that exact moment that Isolde reached him. She squatted beside him, her eyes not leaving his sweat-glistening face.

He looked at her, smiling wryly.

"Another crazy thing?" she said, shaking her head. "Take a break, Cass."

"I wish," he whispered, smiling dryly. "I am up against beings I can’t even fathom yet. But you are right..."

He closed his eyes.

"...this is exhausting. I should take it easy sometimes, so I don’t break myself too fast."

Isolde sat on the ground in the lotus position.

She then scooped up his head and gently laid it on her lap. Then she caressed his hair without saying much.

Cassius didn’t say anything either, but his lips pulled into a grateful smile, warming his wife’s heart.

Off to the side, the other four sect members watched this scene, and seemed to understand, from this scene alone, a deep meaning in the name Cassius had chosen for the Pantheon.

’Last House,’ William mused. ’House, huh? I see. Family. So that is the core of your being, Cassius Desdemona.’ He nodded, clenching his fist as his blood pumped with an even greater sense of purpose. ’That’s worthy.’

’Last House,’ Diaila repeated inwardly, her eyes unwavering as she stared at the sight before her. ’Last, he said. That means when everything ends, this House, this group of people, will be the last one standing. Against our enemies. Against the gods. Against anything we are destined to face. So this is... the core of your being, Lord Cassius. Family, even in Madness. Even in Darkness. Even... when facing the End.’

Her body trembled, and her heart swelled with awe, love, and something far darker.

A twisted, almost unbearable obsession.

Diaila and William were not the only ones overcome with emotion at the sight before them. Meadow and Sarah felt much the same, though unlike the former two, they had been with Cassius and Isolde since the very beginning.

They knew them, and especially Cassius, not as some extraordinary being meant to be worshipped, but as a friend.

And that was precisely why they saw the creation of this Pantheon in an entirely different light.

To them, it was simply the manifestation of Cassius’s love for his own.

A love so sincere that his first instinct, upon creating a Pantheon, had been to turn it into a House for those who had supported him, those who would support him, and those who would accompany him throughout the long journey still awaiting them.

’Love,’ Meadow thought, and her heart settled into an unfamiliar peace. ’That’s Cassius’s core.’

’Compassion,’ Sarah contemplated, standing beside Meadow. ’That’s his core.’

The members of the Fallen Sect stood there, each lost in their own thoughts, still struggling to convince themselves that everything they had witnessed since the beginning of this meeting had truly happened.

And yet, the craziest thing of all was, without a shadow of a doubt...

...

DIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG!

A loud chime echoed through the whole divine world. It was heard by every god and goddess, and by those with high divinity walking among them.

All of them stopped whatever they were doing, stunned and surprised, for it had been hundreds of years since the Eye of the Divine had last made a Worldwide Announcement.

So they listened, and the next words of the Eye of the Divine shook many to the core.

[A New Pantheon, The Last House, has been created.]

[And for its special birth, it will receive one special distinction setting it apart from other Pantheons. And it is...]

The tension thickened, and the gods listened with rapt attention mixed with apprehension.

[Secrecy.]

The moment Mother System said that last word, all the information the gods wanted on the new Pantheon was blocked, their abilities unable to pierce the thick protection around it.

And with this event, one thing became certain to every god in the divine world.

"New players have entered," Vorn, Lord of Death, said. "The Game must change now. What a delight."

Then, with a hooded, bloody grin,

"A New Age of Gods is upon us."

—End of Chapter 484—